**Contra Costa’s Police Chiefs’ Association Ends Public Inquest Hearings for Police-Involved Deaths**
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MARTINEZ — Contra Costa’s police chiefs’ association has quietly done away with a longstanding protocol that mandated a public hearing before a jury for all police killings and in-custody deaths. This change drastically scales back public oversight that has existed for nearly half a century.
A two-page amendment posted on a county website at the start of 2025 states that coroner’s inquest hearings—which for decades have been held for virtually all law enforcement-involved deaths—will now only take place if certain officials request them. The amendment attributes this change to “advancements in transparency,” implying that the digital age now makes such hearings obsolete.
The amendment was made by the county’s police chiefs’ association, which also includes the county Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, and District Attorney, a DA spokesman told this news organization. This is the same organization that, in 1984, implemented the inquest policy to ensure all police-related fatalities would receive a “highly credible and impartial” investigation. The inquests were designed to “inform the public” and “address the emotional needs of those involved,” the now-defunct protocol stated.
The final inquest was held in October 2024. It dealt with a 2023 police chase near Crockett that resulted in the death of Giovanni Gomez, a 15-year-old Vallejo boy who died during a pursuit involving the California Highway Patrol. The incident was ruled an accident. Officers testified that the stolen car Gomez was driving sped away after they terminated the pursuit.
The amendment cites the proliferation of video evidence as a reason for the change. It mentions “body-worn camera footage from involved officers, bystander mobile phone recordings, and surveillance video from surrounding locations” as replacing witness testimony. It also references recent state transparency laws that allow greater public access to such footage.
However, these laws include exemptions that police departments often use to delay disclosure for years. In fact, just this week, the Vallejo Sun news site sued the Vallejo Police Department seeking the release of records related to a police shooting, which authorities claim falls under one of these exemptions.
Matthew Guichard, a defense attorney and former prosecutor who presided over the most recent inquest, said he was never informed of the change and only learned about it when a reporter showed him the amendment. He highlighted an overlooked consequence of discontinuing inquests:
> “I will say I believe as a result of the inquests, many fewer lawsuits are filed. I cite that as I reviewed all the inquests I had done and a few more right around 2015. If memory serves of the 59 I reviewed, there were only nine lawsuits resulting from the subject deaths. In most cases, the inquest was the first time the family and the public heard what happened.”
In the inquests, jurors were asked simply to pick a manner of death from one of four options—accident, suicide, homicide, or natural causes. These decisions carried no criminal or civil liability. Officers involved and medical examiners typically testified, along with DA inspectors who investigated the incident.
While no blame was assigned during hearings, the public nature of the proceedings often gave interested parties, including family members of the deceased, their first opportunity for answers.
Moving forward, inquests will only be held “at the discretion of the coroner, or if requested by the Attorney General, the DA, sheriff, prosecutor, city attorney, or a chief of police,” the amendment specifies.
Taun Hall, whose son, Miles Hall, was fatally shot by Walnut Creek police during a 2019 mental health crisis, described the inquest process as “awful” and “very old fashioned and unnecessary.”
Hall said in a recent interview that when she received notice about her son’s inquest, she didn’t want to “relive the trauma” but felt obligated to attend because she knew details would become public either way.
At the hearing, she felt the officers’ testimony represented “one side of the story” with no balance.
> “It’s very traumatic, especially in my situation where someone was killed by police and he was a victim. And it’s only their version of what happened,” Hall said.
Still, she acknowledged a benefit to the process:
> “Everything that they say is on record and they’re under oath. It can actually be beneficial in cases because now attorneys can use it in depositions.”
Hall’s family received a $4 million settlement from the city of Walnut Creek.
The policy change comes after a calendar year—2024—that saw fewer police-related deaths than any year since the DA’s office began recording data in 2011. That year recorded just two law enforcement-involved deaths: a suicide in the Martinez jail and the fatal police chase that killed Giovanni Gomez.
However, 2025 has unfolded differently. This year, seven people have been killed by police or died in custody, including four police shootings, two police chases ending in crashes, and the recent controversial death of a 72-year-old woman in Brentwood.
On September 26, Brentwood officers arrested Yolanda Ramirez on suspicion of a misdemeanor. Ramirez went unresponsive in the back of a police car and died a week later in the hospital. A legal claim filed Monday by her family alleges an officer knocked her head into the police car during the arrest.
Brentwood police did not inform the public of Ramirez’s death until after media reports surfaced. Authorities stated Ramirez appeared to have a medical episode after being placed in the car and that paramedics were “immediately” called.
An attorney representing Ramirez’s family expressed shock upon learning that an inquest would not be held.
For Richmond Police Union President Benjamin Theriault, the elimination of inquests removes an important opportunity to provide families and the public “a clear and consistent accounting of what happened.”
> “When you remove that, you risk leaving families with unanswered questions and opening the door to speculation, more lawsuits, not fewer,” Theriault said.
> “Any change to a process this important needs to be handled with real care and consistency, because trust is hard to earn and very easy to lose.”
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https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/11/07/contra-costa-cops-eliminate-protocol-that-opened-public-access-to-police-killings/